The World - News from Sept. 29, 1989

The Soviet government has slashed its projected budget deficit for 1989 from an estimated $187 billion to $143 billion, largely through cuts in government spending on construction, factory equipment and defense, Tass said. Since nearly all businesses in the Soviet Union are government-owned, the budget includes most of the capital investment projects in the country. The official news agency’s report did not say if Vladimir Panskov, a deputy finance minister, detailed the defense cuts in his testimony this week to a committee of the Supreme Soviet (Parliament). Soviet officials said earlier that they planned to trim the defense budget from $119 billion this year to $109 billion in 1990 as part of a planned 14% cut by 1991.